The dragon keepers and the fledgling dragons are forging a passage through the uncharted and treacherous waters of the Rain Wild River, supported by the liveship Tarman, its captain, Leftrin, and Alise Finbok, who has escaped her cruel marriage in Bingtown. They are searching for the mythical city of Kelsingra, hoping to find a safe haven away from the society that has rejected them. When a vial of dragon blood can earn a man enough gold to last a lifetime, there may be some in the party who see the growing dragons as more valuable as body parts than whole and alive. But it is the Rain Wilds themselves – mysterious, unstable and ever perilous – that may provide the deadliest danger, one that will push them all to the very brink of survival in the concluding part of The Rain Wild Chronicles.

What the critics say:

'Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers… what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics.' - The Times